The Operating Characteristics of the PTSD Checklist in Detecting PTSD in HIV+ Substance Abusers

The psychometric properties of the PTSD Checklist-Civilian version (PCL-C) were calculated for a population of HIV-seropositive individuals, using diagnoses and scores from the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) as the criterion measure. Results indicated rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) higher than that of the general population, with 12.3% of participants meeting criteria for PTSD in the past month. The PCL-C exhibited excellent internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha of .94 for the whole measure. Receiver Operating Characteristic curve yielded an optimum cut score of 52 to determine the presence of PTSD as measured by the CAPS. This resulted in a sensitivity of .71, a specificity of .84, and a diagnostic efficiency of .82. Although this cut score yielded a slightly higher diagnostic efficiency, the cut score of 50 provided the optimal balance between sensitivity (.86) and specificity (.79)